T & J Bernard Pale Ales 1906 - 1958

Looking around breweries doesn't half give me a thirst. So let's break off from our stroll around Bernard's old brewery and take a look at what they were making: beer.

Funny how when people have looked for differences between English and Scottish brewing they've missed the real points of interest and having wandered off down the path of ignorance into fantasy land. Because the genuine differences are much more fascinating.

Take styles. No, I'm not going to start droning on here about putative Scottish styles. No, my perspective is quite different. Observing how Scotland, like Ireland, was out of phase with developments in beer styles. We all know that Scotland embraced Lager earlier. I'm seeing growing evidence that Scotland also switched it allegiance from (Mild) Ale to Pale Ale much more quickly.

Take a look at the interwar period. What were Scottish brewers making? Loads of Pale Ales and IPAs, a bit of Strong Ale and the odd Stout. No Mild in sight. While in England Mild was still the mainstay of the vast majority of breweries.

That explains why I've a whole stack of Pale Ale analyses for Bernard and not much else. Barnard, you'll note, specifically mentions the production Pale Ale at Bernard. It looks like they were one of the Scottish breweries that jumped on the Pale Ale bandwagon the first time it passed by.

I suppose you'll want to see the table now. I don't like to disappoint:

T & J Bernard Pale Ales 1906 - 1958
Year	Beer	Style	Price	size	package	Acidity	FG	OG	colour	ABV	App. Attenuation
1924	90/- IPA	IPA		pint	bottled		1013	1041		3.62	68.29%
1928	90/- India PA	IPA		pint	bottled		1005	1039	no. 11	4.43	87.18%
1929	India Pale Ale 90/- (carbonated)	IPA		pint	bottled		1009	1039.5	No 11	3.96	77.22%
1929	90/- India Pale Ale (carbonated)	IPA		pint	bottled		1009.8	1040	No. 13	3.93	75.63%
1929	90/- India Pale Ale	IPA		pint	bottled		1009	1040	58	4.03	77.50%
1933	India Pale Ale	IPA		pint	bottled		1009.5	1038.5		3.76	75.32%
1949	90/- India Pale Ale	IPA		pint	bottled		1006.5	1029.5		2.98	77.97%
1958	India Pale Ale	IPA	21d	16 oz	can	0.04	1008.9	1030.6	50	2.71	70.92%
1906	54/- PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1051.5	12
1906	54/- PA	Pale Ale		pint	draught			1050.2	12
1921	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1011	1039.2		3.65	71.94%
1922	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	7d	pint	draught		1009.6	1039.2	40	3.84	75.49%
1922	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005.4	1042.5	27	4.85	87.31%
1923	Carbonated Beer	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled		1012.4	1037.6	45	3.26	67.02%
1923	PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005	1039		4.43	87.18%
1924	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled		1013.2	1040.2	35	3.49	67.16%
1924	60/-	Pale Ale		pint			1014	1040	42	3.36	65.00%
1925	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled		1010	1038	39	3.63	73.68%
1926	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1040	40	4.03	77.50%
1926	PA	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1041	30	4.16	78.05%
1927	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007	1040		4.29	82.50%
1927	90/-	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1011	1040	40	3.76	72.50%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale	4d	half pint	bottled		1010	1039		3.76	74.36%
1928	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005	1050	18	5.89	90.00%
1929	Crown Brand Export (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1005.3	1049	No. 00	5.72	89.29%
1929	90/- (carbonated)	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008.5	1038.5	No. 10	3.90	77.92%
1930	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1012	1040	31	3.63	70.00%
1933	90/-	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1005	1039		4.43	87.18%
1933	Export Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006	1051		5.89	88.24%
1934	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	draught		1011.3	1041		3.86	72.56%
1939	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1006	1037.8	9 – 10	4.13	84.11%
1940	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1008.3	1037.8		3.83	78.15%
1941	Pale Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1037.5		3.70	76.00%
1947	80/- Ale	Pale Ale	16d	pint	bottled		1006.5	1034		3.57	80.88%
1947	80/- Ale	Pale Ale	16d	pint	bottled		1006	1033		3.51	81.82%
1947	80/- Ale	Pale Ale	16d	pint	bottled		1006	1034		3.64	82.35%
1947	60/- Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1003.5	1031		3.58	88.71%
1949	Special Export Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1009	1041.5		4.22	78.31%
1949	PA 60/-	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007	1031.5		3.18	77.78%
1949	Special Export Ale	Pale Ale		pint	bottled		1007	1041		4.43	82.93%
1958	Export Beer	Pale Ale	26d	16 oz	can	0.05	1010.1	1043.1	100	4.12	76.57%
Sources:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002
Document WY/6/1/1/14 of the William Younger archive held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11
Younger, Wm. & Co Gravity Book document WY/6/1/1/19 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive

What do I need to tell you about that lot? First, look at the different way 90/- was used between the wars. It's not a Strong Ale but a relatively low-gravity, bottle IPA. About 1040º before the war, under 1030º just after it. Shouldn't an IPA be stronger than its Pale Ale? Only if you're living in style-Nazi land. In Britain, especially in London and Scotland, it was often the other way around. And no, those brewers weren't willfully deceiving the public. Just adhering to a different set of conventions and consumer expectations.

You'll notice other points that conflict with modern usage. Like those 80/- Ales from 1947 with gravities around 1034º. The BJCP defines the gravity range as 1040º – 1054º. Yet more consumer fraud by those bastard brewers. Or perhaps a sign that definitions - at least those in drinkers' and brewers' minds - are ephemeral.

You'll see that same with 60/-. All the pre-war examples are way over the upper limit of 1035º imposed by the style definers. Though at least it as actually the type of beer they describe, a Pale Ale. Unlike modern 60/- which is Dark Mild.

The only beers that fit into modern styles are the last few. Those Special Exports squeeze in at the bottom of the modern idea of a Scottish Export. Probably more by coincidence than anything else.

America here I am

Yes, I'm here in Boston. And the odd beer has featured. But a couple of very special ones. Namely, X Ale and X Ale.

Tasting them wasn't like a dream come true. It was a dream come true. I've been waiting, tongue polishing my shoes, to try it since that first day I dropped by the London Metropolitan Archives. Barclay Perkins X Ale.

Pretty Things have brewed two versions of X Ale. Based on the 1838 and 1945 versions. Words can't convey the pathetically puerile excitement I felt when pouring out the first glass. As I've said many times before, I'm pretty sad when it comes to stuff like this.

I wasn't afraid of disappointment. Dann knows what he's doing. I was certain the beers would taste good. And they did. A history lesson in a glass. Or two glasses, as comparing the two was the whole point.

Oddest was the launch. Watching Americans slurp down a 2.9% ABV Mild. I was pleasantly surprised at how popular the weaker of the two was. Maybe session beers will take off here.

T & J Bernard's Old Edinburgh Brewery (part two)

Continuing our stroll around Bernard's old brewery, we get to see the brewing equipment. Which is what we're most interested in, I'm sure. Picturesque ancient stone buildings are nice enough, but I'm more interested in mash tuns.We'll be seeing them first.

I'd love to show you pictures of what the brewery looked like inside. Unfortunately Barnard didn't supply any. Damn. The best I can do are the offices. With what I believe is the jail looming over them in the background

"After this we passed along a passage and ascended a few steps, when we found ourselves on a gallery overlooking the picturesque courtyard before referred to, on which we walked round to the large malt stores on the other side. They occupy a building about 120 feet long, four storeys high, and are contiguous to the feeding hopper connected with the mill.   This latter contains a pair of steel rollers for crushing the malt, which (falling into a receptacle below) is elevated to the mash-tun hopper in the roof of the next building, whither we followed it.  Passing through a doorway we ascended a stair to the top floor of a building whose walls on one side are formed by the solid rock on which it abuts.   This is the mashing room, the floor of which—resting partly on iron columns and partly on a ledge of the rock—is covered by three mash-tuns, two of which are constructed of copper,with gun-metal draining plates, are served by Steel's mashing machines, and hold together eighty-three quarters. Here also we observed two large hot water tanks, heated by exhaust steam from the engine, and a cylindrical heater filled with tubes, of a peculiar construction, for sparging purposes."Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 109 - 110.

Judging by that description, the whole rear wall and part of the floor were cut from the bedrock. I can see some advantages in having the brewery partly built into the natural rock. It must have helped keep the brewery at a nice even temperature, year round.

By this time who didn't have a Steel's masher? Maybe the odd country pub brewery. A few more details on that cylindrical heater for sparging would have been useful. I could try guessing, but my imagination is notably poor. I'll leave that to you.

I'll do my traditional brewhouse maths now. 83 quarter mash tun capacity, at four barrels per quarter makes 332 barrels per day. Multiply that by 300 and you get almost 100,000 barrels. They didn't brew anything like that amount. especially not at the old brewery. I happen to know that in 1890 the two breweries combined produced 46,970 barrels (that comes from the prospectus when the company went public in 1895). Shows how far out my calculations can be.

Next are the coppers and coolers:

"Descending a few steps we came to the copper stage, another ancient room of large dimensions, in which are placed three coppers—one with a dome cover, the other two without—holding together about 300 barrels. One of these vessels is used for porter brewing, for which this firm has a local repute, the others for pale ale. The hop-back room is underneath, and contains a copper hop drainer with gun-metal draining plates, holding forty barrels. At a lower elevation we observed two open coolers of the ordinary type, holding ninety barrels, wherein the wort is cooled by central circulating fans; and on a platform above a refrigerator of a peculiar type. This unique cooler (invented by the firm) consists of a cast-iron frame or box 90 feet long  by 4 feet wide, and contains 150 tubes the entire length of the frame, made of pure block tin, and the total measurement of the tubes is 13,500 feet.

The beer is forced in at one end of the pipes by a powerful gun-metal three-throw pump, and cold water introduced at the other end of the box; consequently the beer goes off at about the same heat as the water comes in, and the water goes off at about the same temperature as the beer comes in. This refrigerator cools sixty barrels per hour, in summer weather, down to 55° or 56°; and in the pipes through which the beer is pumped from the hop-back are numerous fine strainers, to free the wort from every particle of sediment."
"Noted Breweries of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 3", Alfred Barnard, 1890, pages 110 - 111.

It would be tempting to assume that the Porter copper was the domed one. That's certainly the type most London brewers used. And I know from other accounts that many Pale Ale brewers preferred open coppers. Perhaps that is how they were used, but, as the text isn't specific, that's just speculation.  I'm surprised that they were brewing enough Porter (I assume the word is being used generically here to cover both Porter and Stout) for it to be worthwhile having special equipment. It had never been that popular in Scotland and had lost found by the 1890's.

The size of the coppers and coolers tallies with a maximum batch size of around 300 barrels. As there would be two at least worts run off, boiled and cooled separately, this kit only needed to be about half the batch size.

The cooling set up is typical for the late Victorian period: open coolers to start off, then a refrigerator to finish the job. 55° or 56° seems to have been a typical pitching temperature for Scottish beers at this time.


That's enough excitement for now. You'll have to wait to learn about the tuns and flatteners.

England vs Scotland, part 3e: early 1850's Imperial Mild Ale

Does this series seem never ending? I thought so. Don't despair. I'm finishing up with Mild this time. At least for the early 1850's.

Imperial Mild. There's a name to conjure with (maybe turn it into a rabbit or something). The name has been used by others, but I'd like to set its definition in stone so future generations will be able to cherish it. A bit like other style guidelines. Didn't the head prophet at the BJCP bring down stone tablets of beer style definitions down from Mount Sinai? Though obviously there were more than 10. Must have been a real struggle carrying 100-odd lumps of stone.

My definition of Imperial Mild - get your chisel ready - is this: Mils ale with a gravity over 1100º. Do you think I'm being too specific? At least you don't have to do much carving.

Why am I being so jovial? Have to find something top write about. You'll see what I mean when you look at the table:

England vs Scotland early 1850's Mild >1100º
Date	Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fer-ment-ation temp	length of fer-ment-ation (days)
19th Oct	1850	Truman	XXX Ale	1102.8				12	5.59				58
5th Oct	1850	Truman	XXX Ale	1102.8				12	6.24				59
18th Feb	1851	Truman	XXX Ale	1105.8				10	5.19				58
4th Sep	1850	Truman	XXX Ale	1108				14	8.14				59
19th Aug	1850	Truman	XXX Ale	1108	1029.1	10.44	73.08%	14	8.48				59	77	10
Average				1105.5	1029.1	10.44	73.08%	12.40	6.73				58.6	77.0	10.0
1st Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1100	1040	7.94	60.00%	6.00	3.00	1.25	1.5		55	68	8
10th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1101	1040	8.07	60.40%	6.95	3.52	1.25	1.33		58	69	8
5th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1101	1041	7.94	59.41%	5.00	2.47	1.33	1.25		55	69	9
16th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1102	1039	8.33	61.76%	8.26	4.75	1.25			56	70	8
19th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1102	1033	9.13	67.65%	8.70	5.56	1.25			55	67	7
13th Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1103	1040	8.33	61.17%	10.00	5.50	1.25			54	68	9
23rd Jul	1852	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1103	1040	8.33	61.17%	7.81	4.03	1	1.08		59	70	8
27th Jul	1852	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1103	1040	8.33	61.17%	7.14	3.85	1.08	1.17		59	69	8
7th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1039	8.60	62.50%	5.24	2.86	1.5	1.25		56	69	9
15th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1040	8.47	61.54%	5.00	2.65	1.25	1.25		56	68	9
25th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1040	8.47	61.54%	5.00	2.79	1.25	1.25		58	68	9
6th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1040	8.47	61.54%	5.00	2.65	1.33	1.25		56	69	10
17th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1042	8.20	59.62%	5.00	2.53	1.25	1.5		55	68	9
27th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1042	8.20	59.62%	5.00	2.62	1.25	1.75		55	68	10
24th Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1041	8.33	60.58%	5.00	2.56	1.25	1		56	68	9
25th Mar	1852	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1104	1042	8.20	59.62%	5.00	2.50	1.17	1.08		55	68	10
25th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	120/-	1104	1046	7.67	55.77%	9.00	6.25	1.5			54	68	8
31st Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1105	1042	8.33	60.00%	5.00	2.59	1.25	1.5		54	69	10
4th Dec	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1105	1042	8.33	60.00%	5.66	2.82	1.25			55	69	9
26th Apr	1853	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1105	1039	8.73	62.86%	9.09	6.15	1.25			55	70	7
24th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1106	1045	8.07	57.55%	5.00	2.95	1.25	1.33		56	69	8
12th Nov	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1106	1041	8.60	61.32%	5.00	2.58	1.25	1.25		56	69	8
26th Feb	1852	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1106	1042	8.47	60.38%	4.49	2.38	1.17	1		55	68	11
8th Oct	1851	Younger, Wm.	100/-	1108	1041	8.86	62.04%	5.24	2.89	1.33	1.17		55	69	9
Average				1103.8	1040.7	8.35	60.26%	6.19	3.44	1.26	1.27		55.8	68.6	8.8
difference				-1.6	11.6	-2.09	-2.24%	-6.21	-3.29	1.26	1.27		-2.9	-8.4	-1.3
Sources:
William Younger brewing record document number WY/6/1/2/5 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive
Truman brewing record document number B/THB/C/132 held at the London Metropolitan Archives

See what I mean? So many details are missing from the London beers that there's not much to compare. I'll limit myself to those items where there's enough information to work with.

Hopping rates. Now isn't this confusing. Younger's are on average much lower, which isn't what we saw in the other classes of Mild. And the spread amongst the Younger's beers is enormous: from 2.38 to 6.25 lbs per barrel. I can make no sense out of them. A couple are hopped in a way similar to the London beers, others at a much, much lower rate. For once, I don't know what to say.

Fermentation temperatures. We've only got enough data for pitching temperature. I love this. Lovely and clear, all the data nicely clumped together. I'm oozing confidence as I say: in the early 1850's Younger's Imperial Mild Ales were pitched on average about 3º F cooler than equivalent London beers.

Bit disappointing that. Not really anything much to say.